Feb. 20, 2012
Stockholm, Sweden
Peter Skyllberg, a 44-year-old man from Sweden, survived two months trapped in his snow-covered car due to a "natural igloo" that formed from the air trapped in the vehicle, the Telegraph reports.
In a stroke of luck, passersby found Skyllberg in his car in Umea, a town a little south of the Arctic Circle, where the Telegraph reports authorities say he was in "really bad shape." He was immediately taken to a nearby hospital, where he is expected to be released in a few days after a full recovery. The temperature in the area had reportedly dropped to -30 F.
Doctor Ulf Segerberg, the Chief Medical Officer at Norrland's University Hospital told the paper in a separate report that, combined with the igloo effect, it's not unheard of a human to survive without food for that long.
"Starvation for one month, anyone can tolerate that if they have water to drink," Segerberg told the Telegraph. "If you have body fat, you will survive even longer, although you end up looking like someone coming from a concentration camp."
The BBC reports that one doctor told the Swedish Vasterbotten Courier that Skyllberg survived by going into a "kind of hibernation."
Segerberg recognized that Skyllberg's survival was against the odds, the Telegraph reports.
"This is a case in a lifetime. Every winter we have people who have frozen to death. But a case like this, with someone caught outside for such a long time, is very rare, because it's very rare that you are not missed by anyone, which seems to be the case in this instance."
So far Skyllberg has declined to be interviewed, the paper reports, and only wants everyone to know that he is doing better.
No comments:
Post a Comment